Angelique Blog Posts

Sentai Filmworks has has announced licenses for 3 new anime series: Hidamari Sketch, Glass Mask, and Neo Angelique Abyss.
Section23 will distribute Hidamari Sketch, a 12 episode series that aired in 2007, on January 12, 2010. It’s unclear whether Sentai has only licensed the first series or both aired series, but the release is explicitly labeled [...]
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Recently, I finished watching Neo Angelique Abyss. Produced by KOEI, I directly assumed it was based on game and this suspicion was confirmed correct through Wikipedia. Having 26 episodes, the second half was called Neo Angelique Abyss: Second Age.Before you go too far, I remind you that this review reveals many plots. Stop here if you aren't willing to know.The story was about a girl named Angelique, living in a world named Arcadia. One day her school was attacked by Thanatos - a kind of monsters (monsters design reminded me to Eureka 7), and from this moment, her life had changed. The meeting with Nyx and Rayne, the Purifiers of Thanatos dragged her into a truth that she was also a purifier but more than that, she was also claimed as "Queen's Egg"; who will save Arcadia through her prayer. Later, she would be accompanied by J.D and Hyuuga.I won't say that this series was a brilliant work. However, I saw some interesting points. Let's start with the negative first before we wrapped it with the good things.NegativeThe fight scenes seemed less interesting. It was too easy to guess how it worked. Mostly only repetitive ways of fight. I guess it tried to totally followed the game version. So maybe, it would be better for you to try the game.Wikipedia stated it similarity to La Corda D'Oro because the girl was surrounded by bishounen. Now that made me think so, too. But La Corda D'Oro had its own plus points. First, La Corda D'Oro was made as manga first. Second, La Corda D'Oro had more girls to come up in scenes who had role to stir the story. Neo Angelique Abbys was pretty limited with Angelique. The story of her friendship with her school's girls could be count for 2-4 episodes only.Angelique was too pure (which probably a qualification of being a Queen. It made me think about prophets) and too soft-heart. I won't mind to see a child between age 3-12 had their pure heart. But for a 16 years old of girl, well, that was too exaggerate.I expect more characters to die. Instead, only one. The worst was... no protagonist die. This was quite annoying to me. I felt like the writer(s) was trying to save as much as possible of character to make them live. There were plot holes, too. For example, when Jet (antagonist who turned protagonist) carried the bomb away from the ship should be died when the bomb exploded, but he saved. I mean, with a big explosion like that, no artifact (the way they called 'machine') could survive. Was this the way the production team to satisfy women audience by decreasing death of bishounen? If this was a part of selling, I would said it was half failed.The ending didn't has its 'bang'. As a story that 'destined' to be end as the 'destine' for Angelique was 'written', it didn't give me a hook.PositiveCharacters were crafted well. This was the good point of the anime. You can differ Hyuuga (warrior type) to Nyx (woman's best friend type) or make a clear opposition between Rayne and J.D. But what I really liked from the list of character was Jet. Jet was an artifact (the way they called 'machine'), a second generation of J.D.J.D. had known as a failure project because he gained his consciousness, Jet was kind of machine who always obeyed his master's order. His repeated speeches of his beliefs as machine had a strong influence to drive the overall story. I think without Jet, the story less interesting.Bishounen for all characters. Good guys or bad guys -- all of them are bishounen. I have nothing else to say :DThe important of friendship was the main message of the story. It was repeated again and again through many protagonist characters. Though the message was quite common (most anime carried friendship, the need to protect something, and love as the main theme), since it was boldly said in several different situation, I respected it. The second message was "noble's oblige" which can freely translated as 'it's a sin if you don't do what you can do'. This statement came from Nyx at the pilot episode and recalled nearly end episodes. I think, as a human with all the limitation that we have - physically or mentally - we can do something to the world even it is only a small thing.No antagonist couldn't turn into protagonist, vice-versa. In many mainstream anime, most of antagonist ended because of defeated and died. This was a conventional way of story telling which of course still suited our nowdays world. However, if you can limit the death, then why not? I know this is contradictive to the negative points I wrote earlier but I stated there I expected good people to die. The good thing is, no antagonist turned into good person in instant. All of them had a painful process to become that one. Again with Jet, he questioned his 'humanity' as memories kept forcely popped-up while in that time he didn't realize that he was in state of gathering consciousness. Rather than except humanity easily, he battled it and stayed with his belief as machine. He didn't want to except freedom because he was a proud artifact. Even J.D. couldn't persuade him.Mathias was also a very interesting character. He was the only one who could really turned up side down the story. He was a good nature person, a spiritual leader who was actually a temporary replacement before René - a true one was found. I understood his feeling so I didn't blame him to turn himself into a jealousy and antagonist. From all characters in Neo Angelique Abyss, he was the only believable character because his characterization was closed to our daily life.Several scenes really had driven my heart. Well, I am not a typical person who can easily to cry even when I watched a movie/read a book alone, but there were scenes in this anime that touched my heart. So I believe it can give you impact, too.Beautiful ending songs that worth to enjoy. I didn't see any relation of the ending song with the story. For the worst case, it gave me false expectation. The soundtrack was also good to hear.With love song as the closing theme, I did hope there were a slight love story involved. The truth is nul. No love story. At least, no love story that really was developed. But I find this as a good point. One, I kept wondering who became Angelique's boyfriend. Second, it would be too mainstream if love stories involved. At least, it lessen itself from similarity to La Corda D'Oro.ConclusionSo yes, you can see there are more positive points than the negative one. I still recommend you to watch Neo Angelique Abyss to very end. Especially, enjoy the music!-------------------RESOURCESWikipedia: herePicture was relayed from ANN: this page
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It took me quite a while to churn out another Neo Angelique writeup, all because I felt guilty after poking fun at this series in my previous posts. Not only did I insult this anime with my sarcastic comments, I also scared off guys who I should’ve helped become more open-minded about this under-appreciated show. My sarcasm basically clouded the rest of the serious opinion I had for the series, and it makes me ashamed of having churned out that kind of post. This show deserves far more than that kind of bastardization, it needs MOAR LOVE, and so I took the time to do some soul-searching with regards to what I'm gonna write, not just another uninspiring LOL kind that I have written in the past.
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Moonphase Diary reports that a new Neo Angelique TV anime series, entitled “Neo Angelique Abyss Second Ag,” is set to begin July 5th on TV Tokyo (26:00). This would mark the 8th animated project based off the original video game.
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We are reverse harem sentai! Feel the power of our love!
I couldn’t resist. That screencap just cracked me up.
This is a show I picked up out of curiousity since it is being subbed by [Whitelight], who is none other than THAT animeblog, and it is their first subbing attempt I believe.
The show revolves around Angelique, [...]
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Since Impz is busy “trap-ing” his silly tushy in Lisbon, I’m here to announce that Neo Angelique Abyss Episode 4 is out.
Hyuga-sama!!! KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
…I still have no clue how I made the image above pop there….
You can find the episode torrents here, or any of your friendly sources. Cheers and tell them how it is [...]
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Neo Angelique Abyss Episode 3 is finally done. If there are not enough cute guys for the fangirls to swoon at, Hyuga comes in. According to my silly girlfriend, he is also the hottest. Anyway, I am still concentrating my attention on Angelique
You can find the episode at this forum thread or any of your [...]
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Episode 2 is finally done after a tremendous effort to make the lines as cheesy as it is. Just joking! Honestly though, Neo Angelique Abyss is surprising me with its production values. I cannot believe it myself because I am truly entertained by the show. Sure, it’s no stellar drama like Red Garden or any [...]
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Silly Summary
The silver knight Hyuuga joins Angelique's harem of bishies in episode 3, and their first meeting was *ahem* rather exciting.
Angelique: OMGZ...
What has Angelique seen? :o Read on at your own risk, especially guys :P
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It seems like WhiteLight subs, headed by the silly timer Giggle-tan, has finally set up their first solo project. Impz is the translator that knows absolutely nothing, but we do promise good translation due to our wonderful QCs and an excellent encoding. As WhiteLight has no official website as yet, I will be using THAT [...]
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Neo-Angelique Abyss is the latest series in a franchise of reverse-harem fantasies centred around a sweet teenage girl who is the future Queen of the Universe and has the power to sweep away evil in a burst of bright light.I know of two other Angelique series and three OVAs, and this is the best I have seen. Some of the staff from Corda D'Oro has come in to refresh the franchise. The bishounen guardians who surround Angelique are really bishounen, and Ange herself is lovely. The show is set in an analog of 18th century Europe, and is full of bishounen fanservice, as well as the fanservice of Ange's rather loli-goth outfits, beautiful rooms in beautiful castles, etc.As in all the other shows in the franchise, the voice-acting is excellent. This time, we have up-and-coming Endou Aya in the title role, as well as such lovely male voices as Takahashi Hiroki, Ohkawa Toru, Onosaka Masaya, Ono Daisuke, Hirakawa Daisuke, Nakamura Yuuichi, Irino Miyu, and others.To help me keep all these voices straight, and to keep the many characters straight, I have made a page with pictures of each main character and their VA, as well as a bit of info about the VA. Click here or on the image to go to the full page:Now, I admit that you might not want to know what some of the voice actors actually look like, after hearing their beautiful voices. But in the interests of greater knowledge....Even the presence of monsters -- something that usually makes a show hard for me to watch -- cannot dampen my affection for this show. Most episodes involve the group finding a monster -- part of the evil Thanatos -- and the guardians first weakening it, then Ange summoning her power and flushing it away in a burst of light.But Ange's doubts and determination, and her relationships with the various guardians, and the guardians' various personalities, add a lot of interest. If you haven't seen an Angelique show before -- and especially if you have -- give this series a try. It raises the Angelique franchise to a new level, at least through five episodes.The show is directed by first-time director Katagai Shin, who did storyboards and episode direction on Corda D'Oro, the fine reverse-harem show from a couple of years ago. Character design adaptation is by Fujiota Maki, who was character designer and animation director of Corda. And the lead writer is Yamada Yuka, who was lead writer on Tide-Line Blue, and did script work on Suzuka, Petopeto-san, Bokura ga Ita, Hataraki Man, Mushiuta, etc.
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It seems like WhiteLight subs, headed by the silly timer Giggle-tan, has finally set up their first solo project. Impz is the translator that knows absolutely nothing, but we do promise good translation due to our wonderful QCs and an excellent encoding. As WhiteLight has no official website as yet, I will be using THAT [...]
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Ahh, Neo Angelique~ Yet another Koei shoujo show that's not getting any love. Deja vu~ The only ones in the blogosphere who took the time to cover the first episode of this anime were Aroduc, psgels, and recently, BluWacky though all of them already decided that it's not an anime they want to bother with anymore. I can't blame them though, given the number of other great shows this Spring (heck even I'm having a hard time choosing which shows I'm going to stick to x_x). Neo Angelique is, after all, a generic-looking shoujo anime, whose bishies serve to lure the likes of fangurls, especially those who got to play the PS2 game(s) *points to self*
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Let’s just get this out the way quickly - it’s Mary Sue: The Anime, back again for another round in another incarnation thanks to the endless recycling of Ruby Party, creators of Harukanaru Toki no Naka De and Gin-iro no Corda. Chosen girl, pretty boys all around her, turn your testicles in at the [...]
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Wagaya no Oinarisama
The best thing about this series? The soundtrack. It surprises me as well, but Wagaya no Oinarisama has been the first series this season where the background music has stood out for me. All other series up till now featured either some cheesy J-Pop (not really my taste to say the least) or [...]
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Alliteration applies aplomb to the appreciation of… ahhh, that's not even funny, is it? Well, to hell with it. A sixth Angelique anime is in the works. It's slated to be a TV anime called Neo Angelique Abyss. There's no website, which makes this news thoroughly boring, so… I don't know… go masturbate or something.
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Wanted: dead or alive for fashion crimes! (Warning; looking at this man might mentally traumatise young children, and make kittens spontaneously explode).
The only reason I want to rip off the clothes of the bishies in Angelique is to BURN THEM. While they’re at it they can have a good haircut. I can hear the bishie [...]
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Overall, the winter season started on better terms when compared to the autumn season. But then again, the autumn season had a lot more shows premiering, and the current winter season doesn’t have any horrible harem series.
Deltora Quest
While I wrote my Winter Season Preview, I told myself that I’d continue watching Deltora Quest, no [...]
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Now we’ve hit the anime where there seems to be a little bit more depth to the plot, artwork or just something funny or cute that caught my attention…
9. Silk Road Boy Yuto
I tentatively place this at number 9, it may turn out to be wonderful, but I can find nothing about this other than [...]
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